Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner and one of the country’s leading advocates for social and economic empowerment, Dr Tim Soutphommasane has joined PwC’s Diversity Advisory Board.

Dr Soutphommasane will join fellow members including former chief executive and managing director of David Jones Limited Paul Zahra, and Graeme Innes AM, the former disability discrimination commissioner and Australian human rights commissioner.

According to PwC chief diversity and inclusion officer Marcus Laithwaithe, Dr Soutphommasane’s appointment reinforces the big four firm’s public commitment to diversity.

“Addressing cultural diversity is a key part of our strategy to create a more inclusive workplace,” said Mr Laithwaite.

“We’re making progress too. We set a target for 20 per cent of our 2016 partner admits to be from a diverse cultural background, rising to 30 per cent by 2020, and I’m proud to say we’ve achieved the first target.”

Mr Laithwaite added that PwC is also undertaking a number of other initiatives, including building internal knowledge capability through secondments and mitigating the risk of bias within talent management processes.

“We look forward to working with Tim and drawing on his expertise to ensure we’re doing everything we can to create cultural diversity and inclusion at PwC.”

Speaking on his appointment, Dr Soutphommasane said: “I’m excited to join PwC’s Diversity Advisory Board. We need to work harder to get the most out of our multiculturalism. Within corporate Australia, cultural diversity needs to be taken seriously alongside other forms of diversity.”